Just a few weeks after the official closing of the Universal Exposition in Milan 2015, we would like to share some feedbacks about our visit to the American Food 2.0 Pavilion and offer you the video-interview, registered
on the 16th October 2015, to Ben Gerard, American student in International Relations and Economics at the Pennsylvania State University, awarded as Student Ambassador at the USA Expo Pavilion (note: being part of a 120-student
team coming from the best universities around the Country) who answered enthusiastically to our questionsEXPO LIVE.

USA EXPO Pavilion

The United States Pavilion at EXPO Milan 2015 welcomed the visitors with a structure conceived for being light and highly technological, at the same time. The project whose title is
American Food 2.0: Sustainable, Innovative, Healthful, Entrepreneurial and Delicious, designed by the James Beard Foundation team and by the International
Culinary Center, offered a smooth and efficient itinerary thanks to a skilful use of information panels, multimedia contributions and “The Great
American Foodscape”, a video guided tour which aimed at explaining what the American food means through an innovative screen patchwork, with almost 3D effect. The expo pavilion was totally dominated by an extraordinary vertical vegetable garden: a green wall which, defying the laws of gravity, allowed thousands of vegetables and aromatic plants
to grow and bear fruit. This is due to advanced hydroponic agriculture techniques, powered by rainwater combined with high technology which enables movable panels to follow the solar radiation, during the day. As stated by the architect James Biber, responsible for the project, the vertical vegetable
garden is meant as an “educational board” that helped the visitors to plunge themselves into a not far away future when we will be able to grow crops in highlyurbanized zones.

The final message breaks the American boundaries and becomes universal, as symbolically
it was remarked by the incitement to be “United for feeding the Planet” in support of a global community.

Expo is a great opportunity to meet up with the World
population in order to focus on the essential sustainable issues about an equitable distribution of food in the future, with a view to achieving the target of 9 billions inhabitants on the Earth, in only 35 years. Hence the need to guarantee a free access
to food for everyone.

2. What attracted you most at EXPO?

Having the opportunity of taking part to EXPO and to get into contact with such an International context which forms the basis of my academic studies, is extremely important for me. Everyday, I can meet people coming from all
over the world and talk about sustainability on topics which are affecting all of us.

3. What does the food really mean for you?

The food is certainly an essential element for every single person living in this Planet; with a view to a rapid growth in the world’s population, immediate solutions
need to be found in order to guarantee food for everybody through environmental sustainability, the use of renewable resources and any other means which makes it possible to achieve this target.

by Maurizio Abbati

Thanks to the Press Office, to the whole USA Pavilion staff and to Mr
Ben Gerard for their cooperation.